Metallic fender and mud-guard.



110.886,49@ PATENTEMAY5,1903.

y W. o. GROEHN,

` METALLIC FENDER AND MUD GUARD..

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PA'IENTEDMAY 5, 1908.

. W. G. GROBHN. METALLIOFBNDER AND MUD GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 24. 1907.

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No. 886,494.1 l PATENTED MAY 5, Y1908. WL C. GROEHN.

fue NoRRls PETER: co4, asuma-rau, u. c.

UNITEDI STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM C. GROEHN, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO BRISCOEMANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

METALLIC FENDER AND MUD-GUARD;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 5, 1908.

Application filed May 24, 1907. Serial No 375,536.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatfI, WILLIAM C. GROEHN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Metallic Fenders andMud-Guards, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to sheet metal devices, such as'hoods, fende-rsand mud guards, and is particularly adapted for use in connection withthe wheels'of carriages, automobiles, and the like.

Ordinary horse propelled carriages have for many years been equippedwith plain flat leather or other light weight fenders of uniform widthextending over some portion of one or more wheels for the purpose ofpreventing mud gathered by said wheels as the car `riage moves alongbeing thrown upon the occupants of the carriage, and against portions ofthe carriage decorations, which might be rendered unsightly or be moreor less injured thereby. With the coming in of the automobile and'itsgreatly increased speed overthat of carriages and its use of smallerwheels which, even when the machine is running at the speed of acarriage, make more revolu tions going a given distance than the largerwheels of the carriage and therefore throw the mud higher, the force ofthe mud thrown being dependent upon'the angular-velocity of the rim ofthe wheel, it has been found desirable and necessary to provide fenderswhich protect a much larger area about the Wheel than can be done with asimple flat fender. It has also been found necessary for obvious reasonsto apply to the fender proper a mud guard or apron extending downbetween the fender proper and the body of the machine to keep said mudfrom the machinery of the automobile as well as from. the occu antsthereof. As a few pounds additiona weight. of metallic fenders overleather ones are entirely immaterial for an automobile to carry and asleather and other light material ,fendersV are apt Yto be injured ordestroyed in many ways it has become highly desirable to make both thefender and mud guard of the automobile of metal.

In order that the combined fender and mud guard may properly perform itsfunctions and yet not mar the appearance of the machine and yet notrender certain arts adjacent to the mud guard inacoessib e for repairsand the like, it is highly desirable that the fender proper be made of asomewhat irregular shape as shown in the drawings. Attempts have beenmade to form metallic devices' of this class in two parts and rivet themtogether but this has proved unsatisfactory for the reason that if aninsuiiicient quantity of rivets are put in, the parts rattle while if alarger quantity of rivets are inserted they are unsightly; furthermoreit is almost impossible to satisfactorily enamel the portions where therivets appear so that a smooth artistic finish is presented.

The object of this invention is to so unite a metallic fender proper,with a metallic mud guard or apron, with or Without portions of materialconnected therewith, designed to reinforce and stiffen the fender properso that the jointed connection shall be very rigid and a serviceablecombined fender and mud guard is produced which does away withsubstantially all of the disadvantages above mentioned. This both whenthe fender proper is a plain parallel edged surface and `when it is madeof an irregular'shape such as is shown in the drawings.

The invention consists in such a device wherein two adjacent edges ofthe fender proper and mud guard are wrapped about each other and usuallyabout a wire forming the margin or edge of one of them, this moreparticularly where the mud guard or apron is bent at a sharp angle nearits edge and near enough to the line of juncture between said fender andmud guard proper so that the apron serves as a stiffener for the fender.

It also consists in making said angular bend in the apron far enoughaway from the common wire border of juncture so that a tool designed towrap the metal of one of the members about the portion of the otherabout said wire may operate conveniently and efficiently. l

The invention further consists in the'combined fender and mud guard thusconstructed as an article of manufacture.

Referring to the drawings Figure l `is 'a side View of a combined fenderand mud guard illustrating the preferred form of the invention takenslightly below the upper surface of the fender and looking under ittoward the guard. Fig. 2 is a plan view of' the parts illustrated inFig. 1. Fig. 3 is an inverted perspective view of the device. Fig. 4 isan enlarged sectional detail view taken approximately on line 1f-L1 ofFig. 1 showing the positions ol the various parts of the completeddevice. Fig. 5 is a view corresponding to Fig. 4 showing the parts inthe position which they assume just before the fourth or final operationof putting them together is performed. Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are detail viewsof a stili'ening and somewhat decorative member preferably made integralwith the mud guard or apron proper in various stages of constructionprior to being attached to the fender. Figs. 9, 10 and 11 arecorresponding views of the metallic mud guard or apron proper before itsattachment to the fender proper.

In the construction of the device of this invention a fender member 15is provided of the desired form such as that shown in Fig. 2. The edges16 of this fender member Aproper are run through a suitable set of rollsin a suitable machine one lorm olz which is illustrated in Fig. 1 of thecompanion application, Serial No. 375,537 (Case B) and bent to theposition shown in Fig. 5.

A mud guard. or apron member 1.7 is next cut from lat metal7 havingpreferably integral with it the portions 13 and 19 adapted to beconnected to the `fender proper simultaneously with the mud guard, thewhole piece 1718-19 being cut in the flat of such a shape that it willwhen applied to the fender proper make the combined fender and mud guardillustrated in the drawings. The operator now takes this piece 1.7-18f19and passes both its upper and lower edges 2() andx 21 respectivelythrough the machine and rolls above referred to and thus bends them tothe position shown in Figs. 6 and 9 respectively. The operator nowinserts within the hooked or looped portions adjacent to the upper edges20, of the member 17-18-19 a wire 22 or other suitable core and againpasses it through said machine of the companion case using the rolls ofFig. 5 and forces the metal adjacent to said wire 22 around the wire asshown. The operator now inserts another wire 23 inside the metal edge 21on to the lower edge of the member 17-18-19, and passes the same throughthe same rolls thereby twisting the lower edge of said apron memberaround said wire 23 as shown. It will be noticed that the wires 22 and23 are on opposite sides of the metal forming the apron so as to stiiiensame as much as possible.

The operator now takes the wire margined member, 17-18-19 and by runningit reeea/i911.

peatedly through a metal bending machine one form of which isillustrated in Fig. 3 ol" the companion case above mentioned bends saidmember into the angular forms shown, varying from the right angle 25 inthe parts 18 and 19 which are to be at substantially right angles to thefender 15, -to the acute angle 26 in the part 17 which is in theparticular case here shown at a .different angle to the `fender proper.Said angular turn is preterably about one half inch from the wire boundmargin of the apron member. The operator now takes the apron member andattached parts 17-18-19 and springs it inside the bend in rim 16 in theposition of Fig. 5. lfle now takes the parts thus combined and passesthe edges 16 which are about the wire 22 through the rolls and machineof the companion application, Serial No. 375,538 (Case C) which machinedraws and compresses the edges 16 of the fender proper around the edges2() and the wire 22 to the nished form of Fig. 4. The small space, aboutone hall' inch between the wire 22 and the angular turns 25 and 26 isnecessary in order that the flange oi the roller which completes thislast operation shall be able to pass in past the walls 17, 18 and 19 andforce the metal of the edges 16 into the position of Fig. Ll. Thisdistance is also important in that these angular edges make bracing orstillening members against the under side of the fender and serve tobrace the walls 17 1S-19 and prevent one or all of them fromv bucklingtoward the center plane of the fender. This bending o'll the apronmember at the angular lines 25 and 26 contracts and thickens the metalof the apron or mud guard adjacent to these lines and makes it strongerthan it otherwise would be and therefore more effective as a brace,reinforcing the bracing action of the wire edge proper.

A device of this class thus constructed is almost indestructible underordinary circumstances 'for the reason that it is very hard to get anymischief making instrument in a position in which the edges 16 ot thefender proper can be torn from the wire or wires which they inclose.Furthermore it is, when properly enameled, practically water proof sothere are no rough surfaces which lail to take enamel properly.

ln Figs. 4 and 5 are shown some reinicie ing" corrugations or ridges 30in the Yfender proper which l'orm no part of the invention and are forconvenience omitted from the other iigures oi' the drawings.

l claim:

1. A combined 'fender and mud guard consisting of a metallic fenderproper having an edge wrapped around a wire and a metallic mud guardmember meeting said fend er at an angle thereto and at a substantialdistance from its Wire bound edge, the material of other at an anglethereto and at a distance 10 said guard extending in engagement With thefrom said Wire.

fender thence outward toward the edge of In Witness whereof, I havehereunto subthe fender and around the Wire which forms scribed my namein the presence of tWo Wit- 15 its margin for the purposes set forth.nesses.

2. A metallic fender and mud guard made WILLIAM C. GROEHN. in tWo piecesthe adjacent edges of both Witnesses: members being Wrapped around acommon DWIGHT B. CHEEVER, Wire, the one of said members meeting the 1JOHN A. BOYLE.

